Operation - Structure & Interpretation

The research carried out in the “Structure and Interpretation” operation studies the morpho-syntactic, semantic and pragmatic properties of language through 4 problematics:

• modeling argument structure and predication

Work in this area seeks to explain how (morpho-)syntactic representations can be articulated with the construction of semantic interpretations at sentence level. This question is addressed through the study of the argument structure of different types of nominal or verbal predicates, or research on nominal or temporal reference, which highlights the relevance of theories of the syntax-semantics interface to ontological issues.

• study of quantification and logical operators

Another part of the operation's work focuses on logical operators (e.g. quantifiers, connectors, negation) and the relevance of logical properties for the study of linguistic phenomena (polarityand free choice phenomena, wh- constructions, distributivity), seeking to show that the relationship between language and logic is not only indispensable to the study of language, but also constitutes a valuable tool for approaching variation attested across natural languages.

• characterizing phenomena related to enunciation and verbal interaction

Interest in the discursive and pragmatic aspects of language can be seen in research into the enunciative strategies used by speakers to communicate meaning that goes beyond assertive structure, or in research into multimodality, which studies the contribution of prosodic, discursive and gestural information. This research is complemented by the study of disfluency at the conversational level, in the discourse (re)structuring strategies observed in stuttering speakers.

• analysis of language acquisition mechanisms

Research into acquisition (L1, L2, bilingual, heritage language) takes as its starting point the theoretical reflection carried out on a given linguistic phenomenon, and uses the different stages of language acquisition across languages to better define the phenomenon in question. Beyond the theoretical contribution, the aim is to determine the role of various environmental, cognitive and social factors (properties of the target language, previously acquired languages, age, degree of contact, volume and properties of the input) in the acquisition process. 

► For more details, see the LLING members' pages and their research themes in the “Doctoral training” section.

Operation members host a SynSem seminar in which they present their work-in-progress and regularly welcome international speakers :

► see calendar.